Tribe, Patrick claim Taunton casino compact approval

Saturday

Jan 4, 2014 at 12:01 AMJan 4, 2014 at 4:16 AM

The second tribal gaming compact negotiated between the Patrick administration and the Mashpee Wampanoag tribe worth an estimated $2.1 billion in revenue to the state over 20 years has been effectively approved by the federal government.

Matt Murphy

The second tribal gaming compact negotiated between the Patrick administration and the Mashpee Wampanoag tribe worth an estimated $2.1 billion in revenue to the state over 20 years has been effectively approved by the federal government.

The sign-off from the U.S. Department of the Interior and the Bureau of Indian Affairs clears the path for the tribe to build a casino in southeastern Massachusetts if it is successful in its bid to have land taken into trust in Taunton.

After a setback more than a year ago when the federal government rejected the first agreement between the state and the tribe for a casino in Taunton, the Bureau of Indian Affairs effectively approved the new compact on Friday when it let a deadline of midnight on Thursday pass without responding.

Tribe Chairman Cedric Cromwell told the News Service on Friday that he spoke to someone in the U.S. Department of Interior and was informed that a “deemed approved” letter would be arriving within the next couple of weeks when the compact would be officially posted in the federal register.

“It’s essentially the first license for a resort casino in Massachusetts,” Cromwell told the News Service on Friday. “This is a monumental and historic day for the tribe.”

The compact, which was ratified by the Legislature in November, authorizes casino gambling on tribal land, and grants the state 21 percent of gaming revenue if Taunton is the only licensed casino in the state, or 17 percent if the tribal casino is the only casino in the southeastern region. Should the Gaming Commission grow tired of waiting for the tribe to have land taken into trust and issue a commercial casino license in the region, the tribe would not have to share any revenue with the state from a casino.

“I'm pleased that the Commonwealth’s Compact with the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe has been given final approval under federal law. This is another important step toward growing jobs and opportunity in the Southeast region, and a good deal for both the Commonwealth and the Tribe,” Gov. Patrick said in a statement.

Following the Legislature’s approval and the compact’s signing by Patrick in November, the Bureau of Indian Affairs had 45 days to review the deal. Without an affirmative or negative ruling from the bureau by midnight Thursday, the compact was deemed approved.

“We’re very excited that the contract was deemed approved, and there’s no other way to look at it. I know we have a compact now and it’s very exciting,” Cromwell said.

The first compact negotiated between Patrick and the tribe was rejected in October 2012 when the federal government objected to the balance of concessions made by the state to justify a revenue-sharing agreement that would have sent 21.5 percent of net casino revenue back to Massachusetts.

The government also ruled the administration overstepped its bounds in seeking to include hunting and fishing rights in the compact, and for trying to exert authority over issues such as regulation of suppliers and entertainment services.

Some lawmakers, including Rep. Antonio Cabral of New Bedford, feared a similar fate for the revised compact, despite the administration’s collaboration with Interior Department during the second negotiating process.

Rep. Robert Koczera, another New Bedford Democrat who opposed the compact, said there was no reason to ratify the compact until the tribe is able to resolve the land-in-trust issues with the federal government. Other states have ratified compacts after land has already been taken in trust, he said during the House debate.

Koczera and other lawmakers argued the Mashpee face many hurdles in their quest to get the federal government to grant them land-in-trust to build a casino, including a U.S. Supreme Court decision that would make the tribe ineligible because it received federal recognition in 2007, long after a 1934 cutoff date.

Cromwell said he was confident that the tribe would have federal approval for the land to be taken into trust in 2014, citing the recent completion in early December of two final environmental impact hearings in Taunton and Mashpee. The Bureau of Indian Affairs is now going through a 45 day public comment period on the environmental review, according to Cromwell.

The tribe has also been going through the state environmental permitting process for a casino, and Cromwell said it’s possible that construction on a casino in Taunton could begin before the end of the year.

“Everything folks have said we can’t do, we’ve been doing,” Cromwell said. “We’re talking 2014 we’ll have land in trust and be able to put a shovel into the ground.”

The Massachusetts Gaming Commission, which expects to issue resort casino licenses in the east and west by May, reserves the right to issue a commercial casino license in the southeast should it decide that the Wampanoag’s land in trust application is unlikely to be approved, or resolved, in a timely manner.

The 2011 expanded gaming law gave the commission that discretion, while also setting aside the southeast region for the Mashpee tribe in hopes of limiting casino construction in the state to three.

KG Urban Enterprises, a group of developers seeking to build a casino along the New Bedford waterfront, is suing the state and arguing the 2011 gaming law is discriminatory, favoring Indian tribes.